Brewing Coffee At Home
 

I've been drinking coffee for, well, years. I just recently bought my first coffee maker and am curious about the types of coffee you brew at home. At the moment I just have a bag of Starbucks "morning brew" which I've enjoyed.

I do not have a coffee grinder at the moment - but they seem to be a relatively inexpensive piece of equipment. Are they worth it? Or is the ground coffee going to do the trick?

Get a good burr grinder. As you said, they aren't expensive, but they are worth it.

Have to grind your own beans!!! We buy mocha java and colombian supremo in equal amounts and mix, then grind and brew. We have a built in coffee maker that does the grinding and brewing and I love it! We're going to be in Aruba for 7 months next year and I guess we'll have to buy something - at least a grinder- down there. We spent five weeks recently and the already ground coffee was :td:

these people really are major league geeks:
http://coffeegeek.com/

this is their grinder review section

http://coffeegeek.com/reviews/grinde...Page=1&Order=0

cost of a good grinder is about the same as a transcontinental ticket. a lot of these grinders are very big. much too tall to sit under a cabinet. most of the inexpensive grinders are not too very good.


i bought a cunill, which i think is also an astra. it fits under my cabinet with about 1/2" to spare. you may be able to find one on ebay, or at a local restaurant auction, but commercial machines get big(24-30" tall).

the coffees available at sams club and costco are quite decent. far superior to starbucks "coffee"

My daily home brew is Starbucks "Verona". I buy it ground. I do have a grinder, but prefer the convenience of pre-ground. I think pre-ground is okay, but it does go stale fairly quickly. I go thru a bag in a week or two, so it stays pretty fresh. Decaf I drink only on occasion, so I keep whole beans for that and grind as needed.

Fresh grind and improvement on flavor
 

I always fresh grind a good quality Columbian bean but I enhance it by blending a more interesting coffee bean with it, for example:
1 part Jamaica Blue Mountain with 2 parts Columbian.
1 part Sumatra with 2 parts Columbian.
Pick the specialty coffe that you prefer and blend together. I don't use a coffee maker rather, I like the EVA SOLO reverse filtration system. It is really simple and portable. A carafe into which you put coffee grounds, pour boiling water then place the seive filter and stopper on top, wait 4 minutes and pour.
bb

There are Flyertalkers who pay that much for a transcontinental ticket?! :eek:

;)

To the OP, a burr grinder can make a difference in your coffee vs. one of those $15 whirly-blade ones. However, if you've just started brewing at home, you may be very happy with a whirly-blade for a while. They're cheap and disposable enough that you might as well try one for starters (it should make an improvement over pre-ground).

If you do want to try a burr grinder, if you're just grinding for drip or French press, a lower-end one like the Capresso Infinity will be fine (you only need something fancier than that if you're doing espresso).

For anyone visiting London I recommend the Algerian Coffee Store in Old Compton Street in Soho.
They've been open since 1887 but they do mail order now.
www.algcoffee.co.uk/
I've been grinding their Mocha Parfait beans since before I can remember.

My vote for a good grinder. You have to start with fresh beans-do NOT put them in your freezer!

We just started bringing in Peet's Major Dickenson beans- makes a fantastic cup of coffee.

that should read: Major Dickason....

Especially if you're lucky enough, like me, to live near a Costco that does in-store roasting! I buy beans that are still warm.

The whirly-blade grinders are fine for most people--just make sure you get the timing right so your grind is the correct consistency.

Honestly, I think the quality of the beans and the roast trumps whether they are pre-ground or whole bean. I've had pre-ground coffees that are bursting with flavor and have a wonderful, buttery smoothness and whole-bean, freshly-ground coffees that have been disgustingly bitter and tangy. But all other things being equal, if you can get your favorite roast in whole-bean form, it has a slight edge in flavor and lasts longer before going stale.

My favorite is Greenwell Farms. We visited them in 2006 when we were in Hawaii, and I've been ordering from them ever since. My favorite is their Peaberry Kona. I always get whole bean.

http://www.greenwellfarms.com/

Gevalia coffees are a little pricey but always excellent and a nice way to try different varieties

Peet's, Peet's, Peet's!
 

Wow, I can't believe no one has recommended Peet's coffee, www.peets.com

Maybe because you are on the east coast, you are not familiar with Peet's. I'll spare you the long history, but Peet's was started in the 1960s in Berkeley, CA. The person who started Starbucks was originally a Peet's employee. Peet's didn't choose the "spread across the world" philosophy, so they are mostly located in California, with some locations in Oregon, Washington, Colorado (just three locations), and two Illinois locations.

They also sell Peet's in some grocery stores. I just checked the Peet's website and see that they sell Peet's in DC grocery stores, check under special offers for $2 off your purchase.


Of course, you can purchase Peet's coffee from the website. Actually, the mail order may be fresher coffee. Peet's stores get shipments of coffee twice a week, so the coffee could be three days old before reaching the store. I think the mail order coffee is shipped the day it is roasted.

OK, I'm a fanatic. Most of us Peet's drinkers are. I won't even go into how I had to have Peet's even when I worked on an Indian reservation!

Try their seasonal offerings. Right now, it's their Holiday blend, "bold and smooth with warm spice notes." But don't ignore their other blends, especially the Blend 101.

Use two tablespoons of ground coffee for each six ounces of water when making coffee at home. If this is too strong for you, dilute with hot water, then adjust amount of coffee in the future.

No, I don't work for Peet's or have stock in the company, I just have been drinking Peet's coffee for 30 years...

I always recommend these two micro roasters:

http://www.barefootcoffeeroasters.com/
www.bluebottlecoffee.net

luckily, both places will ship the beans to your door.

We have a local store that roasts their own flavored coffes, the beans we buy are usually just a few days, if that, old. Very good price too, believe it's $7 a lb or something.

A burr grinder is the way to go. It requires cleaning every no and then, but you can usually find them refruib for $20 or $25.

Though we just switched to a coffee pot with a blade grinder in it (it grinds then brews right after) and the wife, who is the coffee drinker, says there isn't much of a difference. They use a screen so that the coffee gets bounced out at the right size, it's not ground to a powder or too big.

The entire pot cost about as much as the burr grinder we were replacing cost.